The best brewpub and craft beer in the state are right here in Cape Coral.

At least as far as the 2018 Best Florida Beer Championships are concerned. Big Blue Brewing won the title Best Brewpub in Florida on Sunday at the event's Brewers Ball in Tampa. The south Cape microbrewery also won the honor of Best Beer in Florida for its Lightest Thing Ya Got, an American-style cream ale.

Big Blue's wins highlighted a huge day for Southwest Florida's booming craft-beer scene. All told, eight area breweries hauled in more than a dozen awards.

"We had no idea, none at all," said Alex Sarames, head brewer at Big Blue.

"It was 815 beers and I believe 38 medal categories. We're going up against Cigar City, some of the biggest breweries in the state, and here we are little Big Blue with our five-barrel brew system representing Cape Coral."

Joe Termini, the manager for Big Blue, credits the Best Brewpub honor to the hard work and dedication of his employees, both in the brewery and on the restaurant side.

"Members of the Florida Brewers Guild and the Best Florida Beer judges, they come in, sit down, have dinner, drink our beers and critique the whole experience," Termini said.

"That just shows the strength of our staff, that we have people who really care."

Lightest Thing won Big Blue gold medals in the cream-ale division and in the large-batch division, as well. Big Blue also took silver in the honey-beer category for its Let It Bee Honey Brown made with honey harvested in North Fort Myers.

To celebrate, Big Blue is serving its medal-winning beers for just $3 a pint all day Saturday. The brewpub will also be handing out raffle tickets, with one lucky winner getting free beer every day for a year.

Fort Myers Brewing, which won Best Brewery in Florida at the 2016 championships and several more medals in 2017, continued its winning streak Sunday.

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Fort Myers Brewing Co.(Photo: Andrew West/The News-Press)

Its chocolate stout won gold in the competitive chocolate/coffee stout category, and was named Best Small Batch Beer in Florida. Fort Myers won silver for its Prickly Pear Gose, bronze for Bubblin' Crude, and bronze for its Caloosahatchee Kolsch.

"Between ours and Big Blue's wins, if Southwest Florida wasn't already on the map for great beer destinations, then it certainly should be now," said Jen Gratz, co-owner of Fort Myers Brewing Co.

"The other breweries that had beer on tap and won medals, those beers were just as outstanding."

Those breweries include:

Point Ybel Brewing Co. in south Fort Myers won gold for its Cinnamon Toast Brunch in the dessert-stout category.

Momentum Brewhouse in Bonita Springs won silver for its Udderly Crazy field beer in the spice/herb/vegetable beer division, and bronze for its Twisted Cap barley wine ale in the strong-ale division.

Palm City Brewing in San Carlos Park took home silver for its San Carlos Proper in the cream-ale category.

Scotty's Bierwerks in Cape Coral won silver for its Irish Red Ale in the Scottish/Irish ale division.